The Mall Santa
by Ponchygirl
Summary: Going undercover just got fun. ;)
1. Chapter 1

It was a cool December day in Los Angeles California, twenty four year old California Highway Patrol motorcycle officer Logan Hanks sat on his motorcycle with his iPhone in his left hand, texting his best friend Officer Jerrad Gray.

 _"I'll be there soon ~Jerrad"_

 _"Yeah sure ~Logan"_

Logan wanted to throw his phone. Why was Jerrad always late!? It drove him crazy!

Soon his friend pulled up. "Sorry, I almost over slept," Jerrad apologized.

"No! You would do that?" Logan teased his best friend and partner as he looked over his shoulder to see if he could get into the traffic now to start heading to the station.

Jerrad laughed, and his face flushed with embarrassment at that joke. "Sorry…" he said playfully feeling ashamed.

Logan just laughed.

oOoOo

As soon as they got there they were greeted by Ponch. "Hey guys…bet you're surprised I'm here already."

"Actually yes I am," Logan replied.

"Well, Jon suggested that we just meet here at the station today instead of at our normal spot," Ponch started. "Soooo…somehow I ended up earlier than Jon," he added.

Logan and Jerrad just nodded then walked off to check their mail before briefing.

The California Highway Patrol building was buzzing with excitement as many officers were coming in at this time now. They all walked in like a school of fish, bunched together all going the same direction, knowing exactly where they were heading. The only difference between a school of fish and the bunch there was a school of fish was quiet! It seemed as if every single officer that had walked in was talking at the same time.

So it had gotten very loud, and all the talk was about Christmas shopping, and what everyone wanted or needed. It was getting closer and closer to that time, and they were all excited.

"Geeze do they need to talk that loud?" Logan asked leaning against the wall watching them.

"Hey, it's Christmas season…they are gonna be all excited about everything," Jon pointed out handing each of them a cup of hot coca.

"Well…I'm not going to join in on that…I'll get excited with you guys," Ponch said with a laugh.

The four of them laughed then walked into the briefing room to find seats.

The briefing room was even louder than the hall was, there were a few more people in there. Jerrad laid his head down on the table in front of him and tried to relax and ignore all the noise.

Logan just tuned it out by getting on Facebook, Ponch and Jon did the same. But soon all that came to an end, as Getraer entered the room. He had to clear his throat extra loud to get everyone's attention, then asked them all to take their seats so they could get on with briefing.

Briefing seemed to go on a little longer than normal, and a few people were getting anxious to leave. Getraer was finally finished with briefing, and dismissed.

oOoOo

The next day was their day off, so Logan, Jerrad, Ponch, and Jon all went to Westside Pavilion to go shopping.

"I've only been here once…and that was when I was a little kid and wanted to see Santa at the mall," Logan admitted as they got out of Jerrad's car.

"Mall Santa?" Ponch asked with a laugh. "I've got good memories of mall Santa," he added.

The four of them walked into the building together not sure where to start, neither one of them had been here recently. "Well I remember someone saying something about Hot Topic," Jon said.

"That's Anna's favorite store," Ponch replied talking about one of his twin daughters.

"Okay, well let's start there…" Jon said.

"I feel so weird going to the mall without the girls," Ponch said as they headed for Hot Topic.

Logan laughed. "Yeah, I bet it would feel a little strange…"

As they continued on their way, they chatted amongst themselves about random things. Then agreed that they didn't need to stick together the whole entire time, but if they did split up they had to keep in touch so that they could know when to meet up again and where to meet up.

As soon as they entered Hot Topic, Jon remembered why he never liked it. It was dark inside, and the music seemed to be a little loud. There was a lot of stuff around the room from all different kinds of fandoms, that Jon didn't know. He wasn't a very big fan of stores like this. Ponch and Logan on the other hand seemed pretty thrilled about it. Jerrad was a little in between on the unsure of whether he liked it or not. He'd never really been there before.

They began looking around, and Ponch was excited to find a lot of shirts, boots, socks, handbags, and a bunch of stuff with "The Nightmare Before Christmas" things all over it. A lot of Jack Skellington, of which he knew Ashlyn would be thrilled to get something like that so he picked up a few things, he noticed they were a bit pricey, so he made sure not to get too much.

While he was off doing that, Jerrad was looking at Pokémon t-shirts and hats. Knowing that his new girlfriend was a huge Pikachu fan he picked up a Pikachu hat to get for her.

Jon was looking around, but pretty much just following Logan. The things that Ponch was looking at were of no interest to Jon, so he was trying to find something else. Logan was just looking around at everything. He had always loved shopping here when he was a teenager. He hadn't found anything yet that he couldn't live without, and that everyone he was shopping for couldn't live without. He already had his Christmas list for everyone all made out and he wasn't seeing anything here, of which was a bummer to him…because he wanted to spend a little money here anyway.

"It's really hot in here," Jon said.

"Well yeah, it's Hot Topic," Ponch joked then laughed at his joke.

Jon didn't seem to find it as funny as Ponch did. But Logan and Jerrad also found it kinda funny.

"Here, let me buy this, then we can leave," Jerrad suggested to Jon.

"Okay sounds good, and we can let Logan and Ponch keep looking if they aren't ready to go yet," he replied.

Logan and Ponch both smiled at the thought of getting to stay longer, but they knew they should probably get going soon too. So Ponch got in line right behind Jerrad.

oOoOo

As it was drawing near the end of their shopping day, the men had many bags from all different places. They were pretty proud of their good work. But as they were leaving they over-heard a man complaining to another man about his store getting robbed for the fourth time that week.

"A lot of robberies have been going down here in this mall…all the same people too I bet," replied the older gentleman.

"Yeah, and they even tried to kill the mall Santa for getting in the way…and the police aren't doing a thing about it," complained the other man.

Ponch looked at the other three guys. "Did you guys hear that?" he asked.

"Yeah…but did you know anything about any robberies here?" Jon asked.

"No…not that I can think of…but then again they probably turned it over to LAPD…those guys get all the cases like this. We deserve something," Logan replied.

"I agree…but how do we tell them that?" Jerrad asked.

"I don't know, I'm sure Ponch would know…he's always got plans up his sleeve, right buddy?" Jon joked.

When he didn't receive a reply he was a bit concerned. "Ponch?" he asked then looked over his shoulder and noticed Ponch was gone.

"Where did he go off to now?" Jerrad asked. He and Jon both looked at each other. "And where the heck is Logan?"

Then both men spotted their missing friends…exactly where they should've looked before. "Oh I should've known…taking notes, and talking to the guys that were robbed…we must be officers," Jon said as he walked over.

He and Jerrad stood behind Logan and Ponch.

"Are those two also off duty CHP officers?" the one man asked.

"Yeppers, some of California's finest," Ponch replied while still writing down a few things that the man had said before.

"I didn't realize that we could call the California Highway Patrol for something like this. I thought you just stayed on the highway."

"Well…we get to do more than that. We've gone undercover a dozen times believe me," Ponch replied then looked at Jon.

"Yeah, we have. Sometimes we drive the LAPD nuts, but hey at least we can do our job too."

"LAPD isn't doing much about this whole robbery thing. We called them the first few times, but they still haven't caught the creeps."

Ponch, Logan, Jerrad, and Jon all looked at each other. "Well, sometimes it takes more than one try to catch a criminal. I know you hate to hear something like that, but we have to be truthful. We need to talk it over with our sergeant first, but would you be alright with us coming in for a few days undercover?" Ponch asked as he put his little notebook back in his pocket.

"I'm fine with that, as long as you tell me when you do. I'm the main man in charge of everything here so talk to me first before you come, here's my card," the man said handing them a card.

"Thanks, and don't worry we'll be in contact with you. We'll get these thieves behind bars."

"Thank you for your kindness, Officer Poncherello, I never realized how much I liked the CHP until just now," the man replied before they left.


	2. Chapter 2

"You want to do what!?" Getraer asked.

"Sarge, it would only be for a few days until we can catch these crooks," Ponch said.

Getraer walked around the desk to his chair and sat down hard. "Poncherello, of all the crazy, outrageous, ridiculous…ideas you've come up with this by far has been one of the worst…undercover as the Mall Santa and his elves to catch a group of thieves at the mall?" Getraer leaned back in his chair. He looked up at Ponch.

He stood there stunned by the response he had gotten. Near the back of the room stood Jon, Logan, Jerrad, and Grossie…they had talked to Grossie and talked him into joining them.

"Alright, alright…so who is Santa, and who are the elves? How many of you are going out there?" Getraer asked.

"Just the five of us," Ponch started pointing to himself then motioning towards the other four. "Grossie volunteered to be Santa, and the rest of us are elves," he finished.

Getraer nodded. "Let me talk to the captain about this…and I'll get back to you after briefing," Getraer replied.

The five officers all glanced at each other hoping that the answer would be yes. It would be a good chance to prove to the guy at the mall that the CHP was good at other things than just giving out speeding tickets.

"You can all leave now," Getraer said.

They all exited the room together. They headed for the break room to get hot coca, and saw Getraer on his way to the captain's office. They had made sure to go extra early so they could have an answer by briefing…or in this case after briefing.

"Well I'll talk to you guys in a few minutes," Grossie said walking off.

The other four just stayed bunched together in the break room. Ponch ate a ding dong, Logan ate cheese-its, Jon drank coffee, and Jerrad drank Pepsi.

They stayed in the break room for a while, trying to avoid the briefing room, because of how loud it was. Jerrad made sure to keep track of the time though, so that they'd all be in time for briefing.

oOoOo

When briefing ended the room empted very fast, except for a certain five officers…they rushed to the front of the room and all gathered around Getraer's podium. Reminding him of kids when their father comes home from work. All eyes on him, no words said, but the question was in their eyes, and Getraer couldn't help but laugh at the enthusiasm.

"The answer surprised me…he said yes," Getraer replied.

"Thank you!" Ponch said excitedly then rushed off with everyone. "Let's go get our undercover outfits. I need to make a quick phone call first though," Ponch said.

"Dang he's happy," Jerrad said.

"Well of course he is…we just got told we can do what we wanted to do," Logan said with a smile.

oOoOo

Ponch, Jon, Jerrad, and Logan all stood together wearing green and red clothing. They had outfits that you'd normally see an elf wearing to look very believable. Green hats, with a little jingle bell, and red on it. Then Green button up shirts that look kinda like jackets, with black buttons, with a pair of green shorts, and red and white tights. Along with the little elf shoes, complete with a little jingle bell, and a curl at the tip of the toe.

They all had matching outfits. Then they made sure that Grossie looked as close to the real Santa as he possibly could. They got him a fake white beard that was very hard to pull off unless you are properly trained in how to do it, that way the kids can pull on his beard if they ever felt like it. Ponch knew kids liked pulling on Santa's beard from time to time. Then he had the red pants, hat, undershirt, and coat. Then the black boots, and black belt.

They all walked in together excitedly trying to act as if this was the best thing ever. Jerrad already wished he didn't ask to join, he hated looking like an elf. Jon didn't think that he'd have to wear tights…Ponch didn't think that they'd actually be here…and if he were to tell someone he was an officer no one would believe him. Logan was just happy to be off the streets for the day. Grossie was happy to be Santa, and not have to wear the elf costume.

They all got to where they were supposed to be. Jon and Ponch were on the left side of Grossie, and Logan and Jerrad were on the right.

"Don't forget all the ho ho ho's…and um Merry Christmas occasionally to get peoples attention," Ponch whispered.

"Do I have to?" Grossie asked.

"Hey, you volunteered for this, Grossie…if you're gonna do the job, you gotta do it right," Logan said.

"Yeah…thanks for joining us, it was very nice of you. Now we have an even number of elves, and it doesn't seem weird," Jerrad thanked him.

"Well I rarely get to do any undercover work, so I wanted to get involved…and this is a good way to get away from the freeway for a while."

"True…" Ponch replied as if he'd never thought about that.

It grew silent for a while, then Grossie saw some little kids running over. "Wait, are they coming here? Now?" he asked in a fit of panic.

"Hey, you'll do fine, just act all jolly and like I said, laugh a bit, and say ho ho ho at some point randomly. Make sure to get to know their names as they sit on your lap so you can call them by name while you talk," Ponch instructed.

"Yeah with instructions like that you can't go wrong." Jon laughed.

Grossie looked at him with an expression that said _'what is that not what I'm supposed to do?'_

Jon smiled. "That's exactly what the Mall Santa does…I think our friend here has visited him a little too much," Jon said looking at Ponch.

Ponch smiled. "Hey, I'm one of his elves of course I know the guy!" Ponch defended.

Logan, Jon, and Jerrad laughed at that.

Grossie was quiet, and soon some kids and their parents started coming to visit Santa. A few random mall employees also dressed as elves were there as well just because they were being paid to be there. They let the kids in, and one by one a child would sit on "Santa's" lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas, and then they had a choice of whether or not they wanted to get a picture with Santa and his elves or not…of course every single kid wanted to get a picture with Santa.

As all of this was going on Ponch, Jon, Logan, and Jerrad were all keeping an eye out for the thieves they had come there for originally. They still hadn't seen anyone that matched the description, or anyone that was stealing at all.

The day was slowly coming to an end. "Well it sucks that they didn't show up today…" Ponch said as he and the others were heading to the car.

"Yeah, especially since I was stuck here all day in these tights," Jerrad said looking at the red and white tights.

"Sorry…" Logan said hanging his head. "Looks like you'll be wearing them again."

"I don't understand why we didn't just get red and white socks," Jerrad complained.

"Because the tights went better than the socks did," Logan reminded.

Jon and Ponch just laughed. "Jerrad you don't have to continue on with this," Ponch told him.

"Oh I don't want Santa to be short one elf," Jerrad said.

"Yeah, wouldn't Santa be upset?"

"Santa doesn't care," Grossie said.

The five friends laughed at that then each got into their cars after saying their goodbyes, and knowing they'd be back at it again tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

Logan laid in bed staring at the ceiling, he was exhausted, and his feet hurt. Chris was in bed already, and Abby was in the kitchen getting a drink. Logan yawned and tried to get comfortable, but he knew it wasn't gonna happen. He couldn't seem to get comfy unless he had Abby right beside him. Soon she joined him.

"I'm sorry for keeping you up so late last night," she apologized.

"Nah, it's alright," Logan replied giving her a kiss. "I think it was a little worse when you were pregnant with Chris…this time I'm more ready," Logan added with a yawn.

Abby nodded, but she still couldn't help but feel bad about it. She knew he had to get up early for work…the last thing she wanted was to keep him up later because she couldn't get comfortable, or because she couldn't sleep. He on the other hand didn't seem to care.

He was snuggled up to her, and very comfy, and starting to fall asleep already.

"Long day?" Abby asked.

"Yeah…we were undercover at the mall."

"Undercover as what?" Abby asked.

"Mall Santa and his elves," Logan replied.

Abby giggled. "Wow Logan, I never had that much fun when I was working there," she said.

Before Chris was born Abby worked with the CHP, but after Chris was born, and then later when she got pregnant again she decided that she was going to be a stay at home mom. At least until the kids grew up.

"Well I think if you would've been there at this time you could've been able to take Jerrad's place as an elf," Logan said quietly, as he was falling asleep.

"What, Jerrad not liking dressing up?"

"He just doesn't like the red and white tights," Logan replied.

Abby barely was able to hear that response, she saw Logan's eyes close, and he was pretty well asleep by now. She decided she might as well try to do the same. She hadn't been sleeping well the past few nights…but still it was worth a try.

oOoOo

Jerrad walked into his apartment room, and was greeted by his Corgi, Daisy. He smiled, happy to come home to her each day. "You hungry?" he asked as he walked towards her food and water dishes to fill both of them up. Daisy was getting very excited as he was going that way. It looked as if she was doing a happy dance across the floor as she rushed to try to get to the food and water, while sliding on the hard wood floor too. Jerrad smiled and filled up the food dish, then picked up the water dish and walked over to the sink to clean it then fill it with water.

After filling up both dishes Jerrad walked to his bedroom to get in his pajamas while Daisy was busy eating and drinking. A few minutes later Jerrad was sitting in his tan leather recliner with Daisy on his lap. He was watching the news.

That was one of the last things he wanted to do at the moment, but he made a point to watch the news every single night before bed. His eyes grew wide when he saw there on the news that there was another robbery at the West Pavilion mall today…and it happened just shortly after they all had left. Quickly Jerrad pulled out his phone.

oOoOo

Ponch had just laid down in bed when his phone buzzed getting a text message. He turned to look at his phone and see what was up, it was a message from Jon.

 _'Just got a text from Logan, apparently Jerrad called and said that a store at the mall was robbed a little while after we left tonight…might wanna consider staying longer next time ~Jon'_

Ponch's eyes got wide. _'Are you kidding me!? That's crazy! Yeah, we can stay longer that's fine…but we gotta talk that over with Santa ~Ponch'_

 _'Already been done, we just decided it was your idea in the first place we should talk to you about it ~Jon'_

Ponch set his phone aside. "Well a store was robbed at the mall…again…we're gonna stay a little longer tomorrow," Ponch told Nikki.

Nikki nodded. "Have fun with that, if the girls were younger I'd take them to see you," she said.

Ponch laughed at the thought of that. "Well you could still bring them anyway…" he said with a slight grin.

Nikki playfully pushed Ponch, while giggling. "Now why would two sixteen year old girls want to go visit Santa at the mall?" she asked.

"Well they can go to the other stores around the mall," Ponch said with a smile. "Then visit us a little later on," he added then wrapped his arms around Nikki in a hug. "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing," Nikki said.

Ponch's smile got a little bigger. "That's what I thought," he replied. Then their lips met in a kiss.


	4. Chapter 4

The five officers all met up at the mall, Jerrad cringed when he saw his reflection on a window. Those tights…he half wanted to go back to the store and get the red and white long socks they had originally looked at, and see if anyone noticed the change...but decided against that knowing that it might upset some of the other guys who wore the tights without complaints…though he figured they hated it just as much as he did.

Grossie went and took his seat in the chair that he had sat in all day yesterday. "I hope we catch those guys today," he said.

Jon and Jerrad nodded.

"I don't know, I kinda like dressing up and coming here," Logan said.

Ponch smiled. "Me too…though I do miss my CHP uniform, and my motorcycle."

Jerrad nodded "Don't we all."

"Well let's make the most of this, and see if we can try to catch the bad guys today," Grossie said.

They all smiled getting into their positions, and ready for this next day undercover as Mall Santa and his elves. It was quite fun actually.

oOoOo

The day seemed to drag on, and for a while they thought they'd be going home and having to come back again the next day.

Jon was just peacefully standing there minding his own business when suddenly a hand hit him hard in the chest. Ponch had seen something apparently, and to get Jon's attention, his arm just came out, his hand smacking him hard in the chest. While his other arm extended forward his finger pointing.

"Jon, look over there," he said.

Jon started to look while rubbing his now sore chest. "What's going on?" Jon asked.

"That's the thieves," Ponch said getting ready to take off after them. "And they've got something," he added.

Ponch looked over at Logan and Jerrad who were talking to each other about dogs. "Guys, look right over there," Ponch said pointing.

Logan and Jerrad both looked up. "Over where?" Logan asked coming closer to Ponch.

oOoOo

"Kallie, why are those elves looking at us?" Meghan asked a little nervous.

"I have no idea, but it's annoying…and they won't stop pointing," replied Kallie.

"Girls, are you getting paranoid? Those elves might just find you both attractive," suggested Bernie.

"Oh puh-leeze," Meghan said while looking over her shoulder for the last member of their group. Just waiting for Hank to show up with the stolen goods before they could go.

Soon Hank came running up to them, he stopped to try to catch his breath, but then noticed the elves looking at them. "Let's go, they seem a little suspicious," he said.

And at that same time a loud voice was heard yelling, "He stole my jewelry!"

Instantly all four of the friends started running, and soon four elves were running towards them.

"Why are the elves running at us!?" Meghan asked as she was running.

"Keep running ask questions later," Hank said.

Jerrad was gaining on Bernie, and soon tackled him to the ground, then started reaching for his handcuffs, that were hidden in his shirt pocket. "Sir you are under arrest."

"But you're an elf," Bernie said as he was being helped up to his feet.

"No sir, I'm California Highway Patrol," Jerrad said flashing his badge.

When Bernie let out a groan, and looked down at the floor miserably, Jerrad couldn't help but smile triumphantly. He started to lead him over to a bench to wait for the others to be caught.

oOoOo

Logan and Ponch's shoes were sliding all over the neatly waxed mall floors as they ran to catch the two female thieves while Jon handcuffed Hank, he had caught him a few seconds ago.

As Ponch slid one more time, almost falling on his face, he reached out, and was lucky enough to grab onto Kallie's ankle. He pulled, and brought her to the floor, then got up and pulled out his hand cuffs. She looked at him like he was crazy. "Shouldn't you be back at Santa's workshop?" she asked.

"Actually to be completely honest lady, I'm not an elf," he said putting the handcuffs on her wrists. "California Highway Patrol, and you're under arrest," he added showing his badge.

Kallie huffed, "Well that's not fair," she pouted.

Ponch just laughed slightly "Life's not always fair, lady," he told her then grabbed her arm and started to lead her to the rest of the group, while Logan was just catching Meghan.

"You elves had me fooled for a while," Bernie admitted when all of them were gathered around outside waiting for a CHP cruiser to show up.

"Well we were undercover…we had to confuse you," Logan said with a smile when he saw the cruiser pull up. He opened the door, and let them inside. Another cruiser pulled up right behind it.

"I'd say this calls for a celebration," Ponch said after closing the door.

"After we get outta these ridiculous outfits," Jerrad said looking down at his tights.

"Good idea, buddy," Logan agreed then they smiled.

"Dairy Queen, seven fifteen, Santa's buying," Grossie informed his friends. Then they all laughed at that as they headed for their cars.

Before they were able to leave though, the mall manager walked up to them. "Thank you guys for all you did. We really appreciate it," he thanked.

"Hey, it was no big deal, just doing our job," Jon replied.

The manager nodded. "Well thanks…it really restored my respect for the California Highway Patrol," he said then walked off.

oOoOo

The next day when all five officers entered the building, they were called into Getraer's office.

They all looked at each other curious as to what could be going on. Then walked into the room.

"You wanted to see us, Sarge?" Ponch asked.

"Yeah," Getraer said clearing his throat. He had a picture in his hand that he was playing with as he spoke. "Just wanted to congratulate you on a job well done," he said.

"Thanks," Grossie said speaking for all of them.

"And I also wanted to say…I'm very happy that while you were undercover you never came here. Those outfits look ridiculous," Getraer added handing them over a picture. While biting back his laugh.

"Sarge how did you…" Jerrad started.

"Where did you get this?" Logan asked.

Getraer just smiled. "I asked one of the mall employee elves to take a picture of you five while you weren't paying attention…" Getraer replied with a mischievous grin. "This is my Christmas present to me," he added taking the picture back.

They all looked at each other, each officer slightly embarrassed that their sergeant had a picture of them dressed up as Santa and elves.

"Well get back to work guys…and uh, be thankful you don't have to were red and white tights anymore," Getraer said.

All four officers that were elves groaned when they heard that. Getraer just laughed, and watched them leave. He was very proud of them for putting an end to the robberies at the mall, he smiled as he finished placing that picture in a picture frame and then placed it on his desk, and smiled. He'd never forget this Christmas…the year that five of his officers dressed up as the Mall Santa and his elves to catch some bad guys…going undercover never could get more fun than that.


End file.
